The first residents of São Paulo to catch the Spanish flu became ill in October, 1918. At that time, the Public Health Services of the state of São Paulo designed a series of prescriptions to inform the inhabitants of the state capital about the disease and its symptoms, and provide information about how to treat it and avoid contamination. Summarized, printed and reprinted by the press, usually under the title "Advice to the People", such information underwent variations even though one thing remained the same: the recommendations to practice personal hygiene and avoid large social gatherings to prevent contamination and the spread of the disease. The present paper attempts to rescue some of this story, which incorporates issues of personal hygiene, education, and health in general.